To bad you cant find some 1/2" 3M 888 instrumentation tape. Its 3/4 mil stock
with ultra thin coating that has been micro polished. It was for
instrumentation recordings at 30/60 ips with air gap over the heads.
It was available in 1/2 and 1 inch widths on 14" reels.
The audio response below 100 hrz is like -20db. The trade off is 20khz +
10-15db .
Ive got some of this reslit to 1/4 inch almost 2400' on 7 inch reel, but no 1/2
inch left.
dnelson
----- Original Message ----
From: Shai Drori <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, December 9, 2010 11:19:16 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] audio on Betacam sp tapes
Thank you. Now here is someone with youth in him. ;-)
On 12/9/2010 5:15 PM, George Brock-Nannestad wrote:
> From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> oh, dear, oh dear, what happened to simple curiosity? It does not cost any of
> the responding archives anything to wait and see and to learn from Shai's
> experience. I can well understand that computer tapes may not work on
> machines for rotating heads, but the other way round? I would not expect
> squeal, because the audio track on video cassetes is linear, close to the
> edge. For this reason, bias adjustments for the audio track may be relevant
> information.
>
> I had expected some positive remarks and at the most some "bear-in-mind"s,
> but this negativity? After all, the tape will wrap better than ordinary audio
> tape.
>
> Go to "The Complete Handbook of Magnetic Recording" by Finn Jorgensen to find
> documentation of the various properties and also theoretical explanations. He
> will not talk back. I only have the 3rd edition, but I believe there is at
> least one more recent out there.
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> George
>
>
>
> Shai Drori wrote:
>
>> I am aware of that. I am not seeking a better sound. Some of my clients
>> like to go through tape to add certain color to their mix (sometimes
>> ugly color too). I keep different stocks of tape and different recorders
>> for that purpose. I was just wondering if this will be another color on
>> my palette. Because the tape is so different I was wondering if anyone
>> has ever tried it. Metal tape has needs and I wonder if one of my
>> machines (atr-100) could be aligned for it. I'm not sure it can even
>> erase such a tape. re spooling will be easy.
>> Shai
>>
>> On 12/9/2010 4:01 AM, Hood, Mark wrote:
>>> There are significant differences in the magnetic performance
>> characteristics of tape manufactured for different purposes.
>>> The magnetic particles in the oxide coating are needle-shaped as a result
>> of careful milling. During the manufacturing process, the needles are
>> oriented by an external magnetic field while the oxide slurry is still
>> liquid. On tape intended for video recording, the particles are oriented
>> for maximum rententivity when recorded and played back by heads travelling
>> in a helical scanning pattern. This is a different orientation than that
>> imposed in magnetic tape designed for optimal performance on analog audio
>> tape recorders. As a result, attempting to record analog audio signals
>> longitudinally on media designed for analog video recording in a helical
>> scanning pattern will likely result is less than optimal results.
>>> Mark Hood
>>> Project Audio Engineer
>>> Sound Directions
>>> IU Archives of Traditional Music
>>>
>>> On 12/8/10 6:20 PM, "James Snyder"<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I know this has been discussed before but has anyone actually tried
>>>> to use Betacm SP tapes as audio tapes on pro reel to reel machines
>>>> (Sony apr, Ampex atr, etc)? I know it's a metal tape but can one of
>>>> these machines be adjusted to use this tape? At 15ips it should
>>>> sound good if the machine can be aligned to it, no?
>>>> Shai
>>> 1. My first question is 'why would you want to?' You can still buy
>>> 1/2" tape for audio.
>>>
>>> 2. Your going to take the time to unspool the tape from the small hub
>>> tape reels onto an audio tape reel? That strikes me as labor
>>> intensive and prone to damage the tape.
>>>
>>> 3. Videotape is not audiotape. One of the reasons the tape is put
>>> into cassettes is that it is much thinner and more fragile than
>>> audiotape. Thinness allows long tape lengths to fit in small
>>> cassettes. It also allows the tape path to be maintained much more
>>> precisely.
>>>
>>> 4. Metal videotape is designed for much different frequency
>>> characteristcs than audiotape. Audiotape is formulated for audio
>>> frequencies + a bias frquency (for analog) or a digital signal with
>>> bias for digital. Videotape is designed for a minimum of 13.5 MHz of
>>> frequency response from SPINNING HEADS travelling at 1500 ips+
>>> diagonally across the tape. The two are VERY different types of
>>> recordings.
>>>
>>> I imagine it could work, but I don't imagine it would sound as good
>>> as you think it would, and would be more trouble than its worth.
>>>
>>> James
>>>
|